Text alerts for court dates as WA jails fill up

[dricia]

THE Justice Department will send text message reminders to defendants and plaintiffs in criminal and civil trials as part of an effort to reduce the number of cases of people forgetting to show up to court.

The department has also issued a stark reminder of the mounting pressure on the State’s “rapidly growing” prison system, warning there is “unprecedented demand for capacity” as record numbers of inmates fill jails.

In its annual report to State Parliament, it said it was introducing technology to cut costs to the taxpayer and was rolling out an SMS and email reminder alert system for the accused, plaintiffs and defendants in criminal and civil matters in a bid to reduce the number of matters needing to be relisted when people forget to attend court.

Last week disgraced former State MP Barry Urban failed to show on time for a court appearance on charges of forgery and attempted fraud. His lawyer said he had been wrongly informed they were due to appear at 10am.

The department said WA’s prison population had Experienced “continued and sustained’ growth and noted that since the 2012-13 financial year, the average daily prison population had increased 36.8 per cent.

The report said that in April, WA had 6957 adults in prison — the highest on record.

The State Government has received a series of warnings about the growing strain on the prison system.

In August, the Inspector of Custodial Services took aim at conditions in Albany maximum security prison, saying the jail population had doubled in an 18-month period and noted that the Justice Department was aware of the situation but the State’s financial position meant improvements were unlikely in the near future.

The Government last year committed $120 million to fund 884 more prison beds.

The Justice Department said there were two escapes from adult custody during the 2017/18 period, a decrease in the number of escapes from three in the previous year.

One escape was from a prison facility and the other involved a prisoner under escort.

The Department said 36 per cent of adult prisoners found themselves back in jail within two years of release from jail.